British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Media Regulations, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas official, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The authority has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a peak-time statement about its decisions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our rules, we are ordering the BBC to air a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a timing to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's statement declared: "Our probe concluded that the film's omission to reveal that the presenter's male guardian served in a position in the Hamas-run administration was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the content he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to undermine the significantly high degrees of trust that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it breached the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will follow the directive as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
